Should we be baking on All Hallows Eve?

A little miffed whilst sitting at home in France tonight, my kitchen door is being knocked on every few minutes whilst my neighbours children come trick or treating.  I'm thinking of what is (not) happening in Abengourou right now, there's no trick or treating and receiving bon-bons is rare!

Cocoa tree

However there are those children that are in the bush, working on the plantations that produce the cocoa to be made into chocolate for cheap Hallowe'en sweets; it's another annual prime time for chocolate companies to make a good profit.  This afternoon I went out and bought sugary non-chocolate sweets (I'm sure their parents won't thank me!) that are more likely to make our local dentists rather rich!

I don't want to be seen as someone who is scorning this age old tradition, I throw myself into it every year making sure all the children in this small village in France have something when they come to my door.  But in my confusion, I've just researched it further as I really don't know much about it or where it came from.  Interestingly there's no mention of chocolate but more talk about the aforementioned sugar in the form of toffee related products.  In France they mention that they used to put out milk by the graves of loved ones, with our holiday 'Toussaint' (All saints) tomorrow it makes sense.  Ireland now have a baking tradition for Hallowe'en with a fruit cake.

The Hallowe'en food list from Wikipedia

So why has chocolate become a part of the trick or treating game?  I'm just thinking of the supply chain, which starts in our neck of the woods around Abengourou and across Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, thankful for organisations like Slave Free Chocolate who are trying to assist via chocolate companies, CREER in Abengourou  to do more monitoring and educaton for the children involved in child labour.

Tourism in Banfora

It's been mentioned before, the tourism business in Burkina Faso is horrendous.  Due to the terrorist attacks in January in Ouagadougou, Burkina seems to have lost its glint as a destination.  The whole region is still suffering from the Ebola outbreak despite having finished, it's a sad state of affairs.

Arriving in Banfora in the dark, I negotiated for a moto-trike to take me to Hotel de la Comoe, having stayed here before on several occasions I decided to return for a quiet few days.  There wasn't anyone else staying here, I had a choice of several rooms at 6,500CFA but in the dark I couldn't get my bearings around its lovely courtyard.  The owner remembered me when he came out of his room and I was happy to have returned.  After a shower in a terrible bathroom with a loo that didn't flush & hadn't been cleaned in ages, I went out to a maquis a little further down the dusty road.  Wonderful maquis that did the most incredible goat brochettes, great staff that were very helpful; I had my dinner and wandered back for a much needed sleep.

Banfora was looking remarkably abandoned!

Unfortunately my sleep was broken most of the night, I realised the room I had was next to the road and from about 4am I was intermittently awake.  Finally at 7am I gave up, got up and went out to find breakfast.  On my return, I saw the owner again who asked how I slept, I said that it hadn't been that great & there were problems in the bathroom, would I be able to change rooms?  Unbelievably he went off into a fit of rage against me, yelling abuse that I had the nerve to tell him that the room was terrible, which wasn't exactly what I said.  It was appalling, I was horrified by his outburst and got ready to pack and find somewhere else. Amidou who works there during the day, also remembered me, he was standing there in horror at the scene of his boss and talked to me afterwards.  He persuaded me to stay, found me another room and moved my bags across the courtyard, he told me that his boss has been like this to many people.  Little wonder that the place was empty!

A totally changed McDonald's compared to my previous trips:
https://west-african-skies.blogspot.com/search/label/banfora

The following few days were spent walking around town, revisiting McDonald's restaurant which sadly has changed beyond recognition with it's food and front facade; getting lost one day which found me being driven back by a gendarme who decided I needed rescuing.  Making friends with Fatime who had a small restaurant down the road & would cook my breakfast, a lovely lady who was married to an Ivorian, since their divorce she had returned with her 3 children to Banfora.  We talked for hours about Ivorian and Burkinabe politics, West African culture and shared food; although I didn't go as far as eating the offered butterfly chrysalis, a step too far for my taste!  I spent each evening at the goat brochette maquis who totally spoiled me on my final evening.  However during all this time I didn't meet one other western tourist in town, it was sad that people are keeping away.

Butterfly chrysalis's with onions

Finally my final morning I went to get the bus to Ouagadougou, from next door to the best patisserie in town, lovely cup of coffee and croissant before departing on a long 6-7 journey in comfort.  We had a break at Boromo, another enjoyable Burkinabe town where I last stayed in 2014 but unfortunately I didn't have time to spend a few days at this time around.

Thankfully I discovered the wonderful patisserie on my final day in Banfora!

Lobi country

It was a scenic drive on rough roads to Loropeni for 45minutes or so, it was Saturday and therefore market day.  I got out at the station and asked about transport to Banfora.  Ahmed was at the station, he wasn't at all pushy and seemed to genuinely want to help; surprisingly for me, I let him take me under his wing and we walked about 200m to where an old Mercedes minibus was parked.  He organised a front seat for me and we went to find some shea butter in town as I'd forgotten to pick some up in Bouna.

Loropeni on market day

He took me to his house, his mother with some other women have created a little cooperative and had shea butter in abundance.  I paid for a kilo, a little more than in Bouna but I was thrilled to find these women taking the initiative to create their own enterprise.

Shea butter

Finally on the road again, I said goodbye to Ahmed who had been incredibly helpful for the hour or so I was in town and I was looking forward to getting back to Banfora.  I had been told it would be a 4h journey, as usual I was stupidly hopeful it would take that long or less, it in fact took us 6 hours on horrendous roads at times.  My front seat was incredibly uncomfortable, the back of it didn't work so I had to sit bolt upright for the trip!

Transport to Banfora

After 5 hours we reached Tiefora, I hadn't eaten all day, bought a baked plantain, some severely roasted sweetcorn which was inedible and we set off again at sunset for Banfora.  It had taken an hour to get what seemed to be someone's house contents off the roof.  

Tiefora at sunset

Finally around 7pm we rolled into Banfora, it was good to be back, a town I have always enjoyed!

Chance encounters

Having slept off a horrendous headache, I got up to find something to eat.  The young guy running the hotel on the edge of town told me that the nearest place was back where I'd unceremoniously arrived from, about 3km the other end of town.  Without any transport or the back of a bike to ride on, I wasn't too keen walking there in the dark as the heavens had opened during the afternoon and there were large puddles all over.  However he kindly offered to go and find something for me, I sent him off with some money and he returned with a whole chicken and a bottle of beer.  Two problems to deal with now, I had a whole chicken that I wouldn't possibly be able to eat and a bottle of beer without a bottle opener.  My new friend took half the chicken to eat and gave me his knife to open the beer ... it was some knife, I was glad we were on talking terms!!!

The knife - bottle top opener

The following morning I was up and ready for the Ouagadougou bus to pick me up from outside the hotel.  Due to leave the bus station at 8am, it was running late but I finally boarded pleased to be en route once more, aiming for a few days of rest in Banfora.  We headed for the border on a fairly rough road, the bus driver did incredibly well in the conditions and finally got us to the Ivorian border, Saturday 13th August I was sadly leaving Cote d'Ivoire once more via the Koguienou border!

Stunning countryside, tough road conditions from Doropo

Probably the third or fourth person to descend from the bus, I heard a massive shriek of my name from about 200m away ... it was the Anti-Drugs gendarme from the border at Tatiekro thrilled to see me again.  I went to get my passport stamped out of the country, the police surprised to see 'une blanche' at this little-used border who knew a senior officer were in a bit of a state by my presence! Consequently they stamped me 'IN' and gave me back my passport, I pointed their mistake out to them & within 30seconds I got an exit stamp and lots of signatures all over it!  I returned to talk to my favourite anti-drugs gendarme whilst waiting for the other passengers to clear immigration.

Bus to Ouagadougou at Koguienou

We set off again for the 4km or so to the Burkinabe border post, en route we picked up a young guy of 20 or so who got on & sat the other side of the aisle from me, staring at me intently.  He had been smoking quite a bit of weed I'd imagine, it was only 9am but I've never smelt so much marijuana from one person.  Descending at the border in Galgouli, I took my bags with me, I seriously didn't want anything planted on me at a border crossing.  On entering the police station where I'd be stamped into Burkina Faso, I saw an Ivorian car parked outside and two men inside who I presumed were in this car.  On entering I heard my name once more, it turned out one of them was a neighbour in Abengourou who knew me from a maquis where I often have an evening meal!  Within an hour I manage to meet two people who I've met before in a very remote part of West Africa.

Only transport out of Kampti

The other passengers were incredibly friendly and one man helped me when I asked where I should get off the bus to continue my journey to Banfora.  Kampti they all said!  30 minutes after the border I descended in Kampti where I was assured I'd find transport to Banfora.  I found the only transport in town which would take me as far as Loropeni, with 12 women sitting in the back of the pick up, I was offered a front seat with the driver in surprisingly comfortable conditions.

Finally heading for Burkina Faso

So we headed out of Bouna, the taxi was full, 4 of us with the driver.  The road was good, it didn't have tarmac but was well graded for the first 50km or so.

The rest of the journey wasn't too bad at all, the road wound through villages and the red earth new with the morning dew sped up at us.  A few large puddles we continued on, until I heard a noise; looking into my front passenger wing mirror I realised the rear bumper had detatched!

We helped fix the bumper back on and set off again for Doropo.  Passing more villages.

Finally arriving in Doropo, I met a Burkinabe who told me that after Friday prayers in a few minutes, he'd be ready to take me to the border in a gleaming silver BMW.  I told him I'd be waiting after he exited the mosque and that in the meantime I'd wait in a nearby maquis.  However, for the second time on this trip my bags were firmly locked inside the vehicle, a crowbar was set to action!

I waited and waited, ate lunch, removed my bags from his BMW, waited and then did some more waiting but it became clear he wasn't wanting to leave soon.  I headed to the end of the road having been the centre of attention for all in Doropo who hadn't seen 'une blanche' for years it seemed and joined a Mauritanian family nursing a splitting headache!  After a while the Mauritanians became annoyed that nothing had moved despite my protestations to the Burkinabe who had promised to get going after Friday noon prayers at the mosque, they went to see what the problem was on my behalf.

Centre of attention in Doropo

It was clear he wasn't going to leave soon,  The family found a moto-tricycle to get me to the other end of town with my luggage, I sat in the back.  This has to be one of my worst experiences, being driven through the centre of town, the market where all & sundry had a good laugh at 'la blanche' seated in the back of the moto-trike going through town.  If my headache hadn't been so bad I would have been more alert but at that moment I just wanted to find a bed and sleep.  We finally arrived at the only hotel in town.  At 6pm I was awoken by the BMW's side-kick, he had been told to find me, he'd been given my hotel room number by the watchman and I was fast asleep.  When I opened the door and he told me that we were now leaving for the border (that closed in 30m) I wasn't amused but neither was he as he had lost a paid seat in his vehicle!  I went back to bed for another forty winks!

Return to my Koulango family

Sheep waiting with us at the northern Bondoukou police barrier

After a long six hours in the massa, trouble with the police for some of my fellow passengers south of Bondoukou followed by further problems with the anti-drug gendarmes at the northern Bondoukou police barrier, we rolled into Bouna.  It's a lovely drive, Tanda is a pretty town, stunning valley after Bondoukou then driving alongside the National Comoe Park sometimes spotting monkeys on the road.



Thrilled to see the hills of the Boukani region as we sped ever northwards after Bondoukou, I was looking forward to seeing my friend's family in Bouna.  Previously met the extended family in early April 2016 towards the end of the fatal conflict that occurred between the Peulh (Fulani) and Lobi people; where an estimated 70+ people lost their lives (official figures put it at just over 30 but it was indeed far more!).

Photo taken whilst in Bouna in early April 2016 after the conflict

Arriving at the bus station, the town had a different atmosphere to my last visit.  People were going about their business, the refugees had dispersed and returned home after almost three months in camps and there was a positive, calm air.  Greeted by my Koulango friend's younger brother as my friend was in Abidjan having had lunch together the day before in Abengourou.  We walked back to the house, part of a 'cour' behind closed gates, the extended members of the family all live in separate dwellings around a rectangular courtyard.

One of the three refugee camps in April 2016 in Bouna, housing 3,200 refugees in town

A wonderful welcome as I came through the gates, the different members of the family came out to meet me and then scurried around to get his house ready for me.  No one was aware that I was arriving!  Totally spoilt, I walked into the sitting room, air-conditioned with a television showing the 2016 Olympics from Rio.  I felt as if I was in total luxury, we don't have much at the centre for CREER not even tiled floors!  After a much-needed shower to rid myself of the dust, I headed five minutes away to an excellent restaurant where I'd eaten in April to be greeted by the staff there.

An early start, I needed to have my meetings finished by 9am to have any chance of getting transport to Doropo and onto Burkina Faso.  Firstly with the head of social services, he was thrilled to see me back waiting on his office doorstep since before 8am, unaware I'd come back to town and we had an interesting meeting, he was keen to listen to our ideas to assist trafficked children that found themselves in the Boukani region.  As Ghana and Burkina Faso are both under 100km away, it's an area that can find traffickers with children crossing the border.  Next was the police, again it all went well but unfortunately the officer I'd met in April who agreed to be CREER's representative for the region was on holiday in Abidjan.

As I left the police station, my friend's brother was outside on a motorbike talking to a friend of his, I hopped on the back of the friend's bike who drove me back to the house whilst a seat in a taxi was being organised for Doropo.  Quickly packed up my things much to the sadness of the family particularly the children, the youngest of which told me he was coming with me!  The taxi arrived within minutes, I said my goodbyes and left ... to be driven around town looking for other passengers for the 2,000CFA 1.5 hour journey north to Doropo, the nearest town to the border.

My taxi north to Doropo

De-railed journey north

After a month back in Abengourou dealing with matters for C.R.E.E.R the thought of the return journey to catch my flight from Ouagadougou was one that I'd been looking forward to for years.

There's a train that plies the Abidjan - Ouagadougou route and several times I came close to boarding the train to go between the two.  This time gave me a perfect opportunity to travel north on the train, the weather in August isn't too hot so the thought of a 30,000CFA first class seat with a possible destination of Banfora in Burkina Faso for a few day's R&R filled me with joy!

Ten days before I was due to leave I started asking about the departure days.  Luckily our Prosecutor's bodyguard's neighbour in Abidjan works for SITA Rail, so a call was duly made and I decided on when to leave.  I then had to find a friend in Abidjan to go and buy a ticket for me, a taxi driver who has become a good friend over the years & had saved me in Bassam during the 2010/2011 crisis was ideal and I gave him a call.  This is where it all started to go wrong.

I discovered another friend, a Burkinabe, had gone to the station with my taxi driver friend to find the train was full until 25th August, a week after my flight from Ouaga departed.  My plans were de-railed quite literally (and in early September a freight train went over the bridge near Dimbokro which collapsed whilst it was still on the steel framed structure!)



Plan B was put into action.  To return to Bouna in the north eastern part of Cote d'Ivoire and cross the border a little further north.  Bouna is a 400km journey from Abengourou, I tried to find a lift with friends north but that didn't happen.  A friend from Bouna called the 'massa' (minibus) station in Abidjan and arranged that the driver should stop and pick me up in Abengourou on his way north. A stop Bouna was ideal as I needed to talk to various people in town about trafficking and our transit centre.

I had already visited Bouna earlier in the year in April during the conflict between the Lobi and Peulh with some 3,200 refugees being looked after by the UN in various camps around town.  They were also in the King of Bouna, Djarakoroni II's compound who I was formally introduced to, enabling permission to enter.  A good friend is a senior figure in town and asked me to visit during the crisis in case there were trafficked children as refugees which there weren't but we assisted the UN organisation OCHA with a meeting of all the main townspeople.

Finally the day dawned and I went by taxi across town to the bus station area and waited in a kiosque where we were aware that some Beninois children were working and presumed trafficked. Waiting for the massa to arrive, initially it was due at 9am, it didn't arrive until after 11am, finally on board with 20+ others, I was in a front seat and we headed north.

Back to my second home

Deposited by my Ghanaian Immigration official near the Tatiekro border just a kilometre or so from Dormaa Ahenkro I discovered without any surprise that transport was sorely lacking.  There was a minibus without any passengers, the village was incredibly quiet apart from two boys who offered me a ride to Agnibilekro on the back of a bike.  "How much" I asked, 15,000CFA Madame ... well this Madame doubled up laughing and kept walking with all the luggage to find the Ivorian immigration post!

I got to the post, a run down dwelling with the ubiquitous steel framed bed with it's ever-present filthy foam mattress.  A few officers were standing outside whilst two uniformed officers were behind the desk. Upon opening my passport, seeing all my Ivorian stamps I got a hearty welcome back and received an entry stamp with the minimum of fuss and no mention of espionage!

Back outside I was offered a chair and we discussed transport options, a few taxi's were due to come to the village.  It was a Sunday afternoon so I didn't hold out much hope, but having done the journey from Ouaga in 3.5 days at this point I was raring to get back to the centre in Abengourou.  The most senior officer (an anti-drugs gendarme) asked me what I was up to in Cote d'Ivoire to be in and out of the country so much.  I told him about www.creer-africa.org and we had an excellent conversation about trafficking, he and some of the others took my business cards for the centre and promised to spread the word in Bondoukou where they were based.

Finally a few taxis went past, I was told to ignore them but five minutes later small car pulled up, my new found friend asked him to return when he had dropped his passenger.  I got in and was told it was 4,000CFA to Agnibilekro, after a lot of goodbyes we set off down the dusty road for a tense 40 minutes to reach Agnibilekro, the road is known for 'coupeurs de route' ambushes by bandits.

We got chatting and I arranged for him to take me onto Abengourou, I was too tired to get a minibus in Agnibilekro, wait for it to fill up before we would set off again.  He gave a very fair price for the final 40 kilometres on newly tarred road and we had a long chat about his dreams, a young guy of 24 with an entreprenurial head on his shoulders.  Finally around 4pm in mid-July 2016 I was in front of the gate at the centre, with a very surprised children's assistant thrilled to see me back!

PS.  In August, Abengourou sadly lost it's Head of Customs, he was assassinated near Tatiekro for what reason I don't know ...

The Crazy Gang's Mushrooms & Ghanaian Espionage

Dormaa Ahenkro was a real eye-opener.  Used to being in border towns & usually wanting to get over the border and not hang around, I was confused by this town, it's wealth and atmosphere.

Generally in West Africa, I try to be 30km from a border, they're not the most safest of places to be and can get volatile.  The Elubo (Ghana) Noe (CI) border further south is one border I ensure I'm well away from at night.  However, Dormaa Ahenkro was the 'Silicon Poultry Valley' of Ghana as I exclaimed to a friend in Accra that night over the phone.  The town was obviously wealthy, people were lovely, incredibly laid back and I found a gem of a little guest house complete with French electrical wiring (no more problems with my French plugs going into UK type sockets!).

After a feast of jollof rice and chicken at the 'Canteen' I found a taxi to return me to the guest house with the thought of a long restful night of sleep.  How wrong I was!!!  I was sitting in the garden's  concrete gazebo in the dark when an Obruni caught me relaxing with a Star beer.  Absolutely shocked to see an Obruni in this little unknown corner of Ghana, I started talking to him.  He was German and in business with a Ghanaian setting up mushroom farms.  The business partner soon joined us, we had a hilarious evening of chatter which went on far too long before I found my bed again.

In the morning, I was invited to join them for a mushrooms & moringa breakfast, absolutely delicious, all cooked on a small stove in the gazebo which was still littered with the previous night's beer bottles!  They asked me to go with them to meet a local chief and promised to drop me at the border shortly afterwards.  By 9am we were ready, my bags were in their pick-up and I went into the guesthouse briefly to pick up my small backpack, on my return I discovered they had locked the car keys into the car.

To put the situation into perspective, the Ghanaian business partner didn't drive and didn't realise this could happen (the keys were in his jacket in the pick-up), their driver didn't have a clue about mechanics & it was Sunday morning, so the whole town had already gone to church.  One of the boys of the guesthouse found some wire & we started trying to break into the pick-up to no avail.  The town's main mechanic was sent for, one of boys went to find him, he eventually turned up with most of the male congregation of the nearby church ... Meanwhile, my new found friends aka 'The Crazy Gang' settled back into last night's chairs in the gazebo with cold beers ...

The centre of Dormaa Ahenkro

By 11am we were finally on the road, I was given a tour of the town with some lovely old colonial type buildings then off to see the Chief.  The meeting went well and we headed for the border, 8km from town.  I went directly into immigration, I was told to take a seat and hand over my passport so he could fill the form in; he was quite young & junior in rank.  This is where it started going wrong, I told him I'd fill the immigration form in (last time this happened in Ghana in about 2007 it took them 4 or 5 attempts to fill out a card without a mistake and wasted 45minutes or so!).  He thought for a moment and opened my passport, he went through every Ghanaian stamp in my passport, of which there are many and then asked me to show him my work permit.

At this point I was a bit miffed and surprised by him, usually the junior officers don't look too much; however I have nothing to hide.  I asked him why he thought I was working in Ghana, he told me that I must be working in Ghana to have come through so many times.   I made it clear that I don't have any job in Ghana.

"So you are a spy" was his next question!  Trying to figure this out in my head.  Here was a junior officer now accusing me of spying on Ghana, for who? why? when (it's not as if my 2-3 day transits gives me enough time to do any spying).  I laughed at him and asked him why he had come to that conclusion as he was opening his desk drawer.  His manner changed & he was looking rather flustered, it turned out that there weren't any immigration forms ... this changed the situation as he went to another cupboard in the office, then out to the waiting room but the forms it seems were nowhere to be found.  They had run out!

He returned, semi-apologetic saying that he would call his senior officer but still wanted explanations as to what I do in Ghana.  I ignored this and asked him what I was going to do if there weren't any forms, because I wanted to be in Cote d'Ivoire as much as he didn't want this 'spy' in his office.

Eventually an arrangement was made and I escaped his office with an exit stamp in my passport to add to the other hundred or so in there!  I found the Crazy Gang behind the little Duty Free shop drinking some more cold beers & then discovered that we couldn't go over the border in the pick-up as the 'Obruni' couldn't leave Ghana and was the only one able to drive.  My immigration officer found us all there and asked what the problem was, we told him, he offered to drive me to the Ivorian border and suddenly became very friendly, my espionage status was obviously downgraded!!!